USA Bid Committee Submits Official Bid Book to Host 2018 or 2022 FIFA
World CupTM in United States

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U.S. Men's National Team captain Carlos Bocanegra (bid book) and U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati (left) deliver the official USA Bid Book to FIFA President Joseph Blatter (right) in a ceremony that took place at the FIFA Headquarters in Zurich on May 14, 2010. The USA Bid Committee's Executive Director David Downs watches from the background. (Photo: Business Wire)

U.S. Men's National Team captain Carlos Bocanegra (bid book) and U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati (left) deliver the official USA Bid Book to FIFA President Joseph Blatter (right) in a ceremony that took place at the FIFA Headquarters in Zurich on May 14, 2010. The USA Bid Committee's Executive Director David Downs watches from the background. (Photo: Business Wire)

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A delegation from the USA Bid Committee submitted the official United
States Bid Book to host the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup™ in a formal
ceremony at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, today.

Representing the 90 million soccer fans in the United States, the
delegation from the USA Bid Committee included U.S. Soccer President and
USA Bid Committee Chairman Sunil Gulati, USA Bid Committee Executive
Director David Downs, USA Bid Committee Managing Director John Kristick
and U.S. Men’s National Team captain Carlos Bocanegra. The delegation
presented the bid book to FIFA President Joseph “Sepp” Blatter and FIFA
Secretary General Jerome Valcke.

The United States and eight competing bids each had 15 minutes to
present their bid book and engage in a question and answer session with
assembled media following the ceremony. The submission of the official
bid books begins a seven-month review process that will include site
visits by FIFA Executive Committee members to each bidding nation and
culminate with the selection of the host countries for the 2018 and 2022
FIFA World Cups on December 2, 2010, in Zurich.

“Submitting the U.S. Bid Book to FIFA is a major milestone in this
process and the result of months of planning and hard work,” said Sunil
Gulati, Chairman of the USA Bid Committee and President of U.S. Soccer.
“But it also marks the beginning of the most critical portion of this
bid in which we must make a compelling case to the 24-member FIFA
Executive Committee that the United States is the right country to host
the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022. The support our effort has received
from the people and civic leaders of this country has been tremendous
and strengthens our faith in our ability to bring the World Cup back to
the United States.”

In addition to the United States, Australia, England and Russia formally
declared their desire to host the FIFA World Cup™ in 2018 or 2022 by
presenting their bid books to FIFA today as well. Netherlands-Belgium
and Portugal-Spain each submitted joint bids for the 2018 and 2022
tournaments, while Japan, Qatar and South Korea are only bidding to host
the tournament in 2022. Indonesia withdrew its bid in March 2010, while
Mexico withdrew its bid in September 2009. Following the Mexico
announcement, CONCACAF issued a public endorsement for the United States
bid in November that pledged the full support of soccer’s governing body
for North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Last week the Mexican Soccer Federation made its public declaration of
support for the U.S. bid when association President Justino Compeán,
speaking from the Mexico-Ecuador friendly at the sold-out new
Meadowlands Stadium on May 7, said “the USA has the infrastructure, and
the will to organize the World Cup."

The handover ceremonies were not televised live, but video footage of
the official handover ceremony of the U.S. Bid Book will be available on
an FTP site at 1 p.m. ET. The handover of the U.S. Bid Book took place
at 10:15 a.m. ET. The video package, including footage and interviews,
was being commissioned by the USA Bid Committee and offered to media
outlets free of charge. The FTP site information is as follows:

Please, take note that the Username is “gousa2018”
while the password is “gousa2022”.

A podcast of a news conference call today between the USA delegation and
reporters will be available this afternoon on www.goUSAbid.com.
A transcription of the news conference will be available at ussoccer.com.

The USA Bid Committee also released a new video at goUSABid.com
to rally support for bringing the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup™ back to
the US. The link to the video, which shows the widespread passion for
soccer amongst Americans, can be found here: http://www.gousabid.com/pages/video-signup.

“For the first time in our nation’s history we will be competing for two
World Cups in 2010, one on the field in South Africa one month from now
and one off the field in the intense competition to host the event in
2018 or 2022,” said David Downs, USA Bid Committee Executive Director.
“Hosting the FIFA World Cup in 1994, still the most-attended World Cup
in history, introduced international soccer to mainstream America. The
bid book submission ceremony, in all of its pageantry, will be an
important step towards our mission of taking American soccer to the next
level.”

The U.S. Bid Book includes 18
host city finalists (alphabetically): Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston,
Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami,
Nashville, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa
and Washington, D.C. The list of host cities includes 21 stadiums in
compliance with FIFA’s requirements to be included in the bid book to
FIFA. With the new Meadowlands Stadium now open, all 21 of the stadiums
included in the United States bid currently exist and 18 have been built
or renovated within the last 20 years. The venues average capacities of
more than 76,000 spectators while 12 of the stadiums feature capacities
between 75,000 and 94,000 fans.